Petra Returned and Weir Auditions

After a couple of years touring and being on display at Kingston Hospital ( pictured 5th from the right on the NNA website) I've finally got my Poetry In Stitches 'Petra' piece back. I've just been unpicking the velcro strip and attaching a hanging sleeve so that Ian can have it in his office (he's been nagging me for its return for the last year!) It's a piece that I finished and sent off with little time to live with it so it's an interesting snapshot of my direction at the time - I'd probably do it differently now. I was just beginning to experiment with incorporating photographs printed on organza and there's just a tiny piece of acrylic paint on it. Still like it though, and it brings back memories of my visit there and the magic of glimpsing the Treasury after walking throught the darkness of the 'Siq'.

Meanwhile I've been experimenting further with my 'Weir' samples, stitching the outline of some dried seedheads in the foreground to unite the different sections

And I've started auditioning fabrics for a larger piece - some fabrics such as the Heide Stoll-Weber dyed fabric at the bottom have potential on this scale ( approximately 60 x 120 cm) that they didn't in smaller samples. Just goes to show that however much you plan, there comes a point when you just have to plunge in and see what happens. Which is the joy of process for me.

Petra

Photo - approaching through the 'Siq'

Watercolour of the Urn and Silk Tombs (painted on site)

Watercolour of the Treasury (from photograph)

Finished Quilt (60 x 60 cm)

Petra is one of those places that despite the increased tourism and associated kitsch lives up to all the hype. I visited Xmas 2001 and had 2 days there - the first with a guide , the 2nd free to wander. As we approached the Treasury through the 'Siq' we were told to close our eyes for the last few metres- corny but the impact on looking for the first time was tremendous. 2 days gave the opportunity to explore the huge site (including climbing up for a birds-eye view), see structures in different lights and paint quite a few watercolours ( although those unwordly colours are difficult to capture)

For quite a while on my return I had the sketches and a rough layout ( with fabric swatches) for a long thin quilt pinned up on my design wall. Then there was a call for entries for 'Poetry in Stitches', textile pieces 60 x 60 cm interpreting poems in a booklet ' Poems in the Waiting Room' to be displayed in hospital waiting rooms . One of the poems was 'Petra' with that well-known quote ' a rose-red city half as old as time' - a challenge to rethink a long thin quilt into a square one!

I decided to do it as a combination of 2 views , the walk through the Siq and a close-up of the treasury. The 'Siq' side was constructed from painted 'shot' silk taffeta with strips of different purple fabrics applied over the top. The 'Treasury' side was a photo printed over 3 A4 pieces of organza ( quite tricky to match up) laid over different coloured silks and cut back in places and quite heavily quilted. In the flesh (if you can call it that!) the treasury really seems to glow - the effect of having the bright silk shining through the organza.

That was 2 years ago - its since been exhibited at several shows and galleries, featured in the book associated with the project but for the last few months its been in Kingston hospital shortly to be returned. Now I'm planning my next Poetry in Stitches piece- 'Giant'

Taking of structures ( rather a tenuous link this), half of the scaffolding is now up. The scaffolders were supposed to come on Saturday afternoon and we waited in but they never turned up. On Sunday when we returned from our outing for Sunday lunch to the Lord Nelson (excellent organic roasts) and light buying expedition to B&Q , there was scaffolding up on the front of the house! As we weren't in, they couldn't take it through the house to the back so goodness knows when they'll be back again.